Ex-cop jailed for sex assault on four-year-old girl

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A former Tasmanian policeman and soldier has been sentenced to 10 years' jail for sexually assaulting a young girl over several years and child pornography offences.

Bernard Keith Hergert, 54, of Cooktown in north Queensland, admitted in the Cairns District Court to a series of charges including abuse and assault of the girl between July 1998 and October 2002.

As a four-year-old, the girl was forced to watch herself being filmed as Hergert stuck needles into her buttocks and molested her with a sex toy, the court heard.

Hergert had sent footage to a man in the UK and was arrested by Australian police after British authorities found the film showing a girl being sexually and physically abused.

Part of the footage was aired on Australian television in an attempt to locate the girl, who was later found safe with her mother.

Hergert was sentenced yesterday for indecent dealing with a child, maintaining a sexual relationship with a circumstance of aggravation, assault causing bodily harm whilst armed, obtaining a minor for objectionable computer games and making and selling objectionable computer games.

Judge Michael Shanahan ordered that Hergert report his current address to police for 20 years upon being released from custody.